ETHANOL

While the mainstream ethanol advocates are pushing toward E15, some want much more.
Orrie Swayze, a Wilmot, S.D., semi-farmer and former South Dakota Corn Growers Association president, says the Environmental Protection Agency shift toward E15 would be a “zero growth proposition,” and should only be a step toward a goal of E30.

Jeff Broin says if farmers want corn prices back at a profitable level, they need to get involved in politics and get engaged to keep the ethanol industry strong.
At age 49, Broin is the executive chairman and founder of Poet LLC, a company that operates 27 ethanol plants across seven states, producing an estimated 1.7 billion gallons of ethanol a year.

Growth Energy, the organization of ethanol plant builders and operators, supports granting trade promotion authority to President Barack Obama so the administration can complete the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement and work on the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, Growth Energy CEO Tom Buis said.

Thirty-four U.S. lawmakers introduced a bill that seeks to end ethanol fuel-blending mandates. The legislators want to eliminate requirements for corn-based ethanol blending and cap blending levels for other biofuels at actual production levels.

The Central MN Ethanol Co-op in Little Falls, Minn., has been purchased by Green Biologics Inc., which plans to convert the 21-million-gallon-per-year plant to produce renewable normal butanol, also known as n-butanol, and acetone.
The plant will continue to produce ethanol for the time being, with n-butanol and acetone production beginning in 2016. Its current management and employees will remain.

U.S. ethanol production is likely to continue at a record rate despite its rare premium to gasoline as cheap corn, high biofuel prices and even cool weather provide ideal conditions and strong profit margins.

A $1 million rural development loan from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to Northern Plains Electric Cooperative will help finance the Dakota Spirit AgEnergy ethanol plant under construction in Spiritwood, according to JoAnn Rodenbiker, director of business development for the cooperative.

An ethanol plant in Nebraska corn country is pumping out fuel made from sugar beets, and corn farmers are suing to stop it — a small-town dispute that offers an unusual take on the debate over the market-distorting impact of sugar and corn subsidies.

FARGO, N.D. — U.S. Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D., flanked by five other Democratic senators, and producer/processors from their states, launched an effort Wednesday to re-up federal support for biofuels.